Unlike medium wave stations, you can DX
shortwave 24 hours a day. However, the hours of darkness still offer the
best time for shortwave DXing. This is because of improved propagation
conditions on the lower frequencies, reduced atmospheric noise, and
because shortwave broadcasters like to concentrate on the local evening
hours for their primary audience. So first let's look at how shortwave
stations tell time.

What Time is It?

Because
shortwave stations can broadcast from anywhere in the world it becomes
too confusing if everyone uses local time. Instead, a common time called
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is used. This time is somewhat based on
the standard time of London, England also known as Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT). Although UTC is a more modern term many broadcasters still refer
to GMT.

In the eastern time zone, you add 5 hours*
to EST (Eastern Standard Time) to get UTC. So if it is 12 noon locally,
then the time is 1700 UTC. Here is a table of some times that might help
to sort out UTC.

EST

24 Hour

Date

UTC

UTC Date

8:00 AM

0800

April 1

1300

April 1

12:00 AM

1200

April 1

1700

April 1

6:00 PM

1800

April 1

2300

April 1

7:00 PM

1900

April 1

0000

April 2

9:00 PM

2100

April 1

0100

April 2

Figure 1. Universal Time
Coordinated (UTC).

This might seem a little confusing at
first but it will soon seem natural. If you set a clock to UTC, or
better yet, get a 24 hour clock, then you won't need to do the
conversion each time you read the time.

*Unlike local time UTC does
not change when we change to or from daylight saving time. But when we
go from EST to EDT (or daylight saving time) then the difference between
Eastern time and UTC is only 4 hours. So 9:00 PM (2100) EDT on July 4 is
0100 UTC on July 5.

Where are the Shortwave Bands?

Shortwave bands are located in the 2000
kHz to 30000 kHz (2-30 MHz) range of frequencies. But not all of these
frequencies are used by international broadcasters. Instead most
broadcasts are restricted to segments of this range called meter bands.
Some meter bands are more widely used than others and some exhibit
better conditions during the daytime while others are better at night.
Here are the major bands used for shortwave broadcasts.

Meter Band

Frequency (kHz)

Reception

120

2300-2500

Infrequent reception

90

3200-3400

Winter nights

75

3900-4000

Winter nights

60

4750-5060

Tropical stations, winter nights

49

5900-6200

Best at night

41

7100-7350

Best at night

31

9400-10000

Best at night, some day

25

11600-12160

Best at night, some day

22

13570-13870

Best day, some night

19

15100-15800

Best day, some night

16

17500-17900

Best day, some night

15

18900-19020

Best day

13

21450-21750

Best day

11

25600-26100

Best day

Figure 2. Frequencies for
Shortwave Listening.

One way to listen to shortwave is to just
tune around the band of your choice and look for what's on. A better way
is to have a guide to broadcasters and frequencies. See the section
Shortwave
Listener's Resources for a list of publications and web sites where
you can get current information about shortwave broadcasts. In the
section Major
English Language Broadcasters we will look at some of the easier
catches on the shortwave bands to help you get started.